Bishop Hee-Soo Jung and Full CabinetWisconsin ConferenceThe United Methodist Church

Greetings in the name of Jesus Christ,

Out of the ashes of General Conference 2019 arise sacred resistance of the undersigned clergy and laity in the Wisconsin Conference. The following is a response to Bishop Hee-Soo Jung’s public statements regarding General Conference 2019.

You wrote public declarations asserting we are divided over beliefs about human sexuality. You say, “We are not in a healthy place, we continue to do harm to our collegial covenant and our LGBTQIA+ brothers, sisters and siblings, and we are a wounded, divided body.” We agree.

You assert that perhaps through the 2019 Special General Conference, God revealed to us that we may not be ready or in a place within our denominational life for this big decision about inclusion of LGBTQIA+ people in the full life of The United Methodist Church.

You indicate it would be easy to say we failed at General Conference. We did fail. We have failed as a church at every General Conference since 1972. Harm done, repeatedly.

You lift our need for a Savior and God’s healing grace. You implore us to understand that God is still God, and to trust that God is not finished with us yet and to believe that God has great plans for us as an inclusive church.

During this Lenten season, you invite us to breathe, pray, grieve, talk and be proactive.

Bishop and Cabinet, we have breathed in what seems a privileged discipline of relative ease while we know our LGBTQIA+ siblings have panted with exhaustion the race we let them run alone. We lament.

We have prayed in community while our LGBTQIA+ siblings have prayed in isolation, not trusting they could be authentic in their personhood with the full body. We lament.

We have grieved for the church of our baptism while our LGBTQIA+ siblings have grieved their second-class status. We lament.

We have talked around the “issue,” allowing our privilege and silent support to cause detrimental harm to our LGBTQIA+ siblings as we perpetuate further exclusion in the church. We lament.

We lament and grieve the deep harm inflicted on LGBTQIA+ people while some of us stood silent.

Until now.

We repent that our silence and inaction has done harm to our LGBTQIA+ sisters, brothers and siblings who have been labeled as “incompatible” with the depth and breadth of “Christian teaching.” We stand in opposition to any further harm.

We follow the scriptural revelation of Jesus and reaffirm our baptismal vows to accept the freedom and power God offers us to resist evil, injustice and oppression in whatever forms they present themselves.

Therefore, we refuse to accept The United Methodist Social Principles’ assertion that “homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching.” There has never been a clear demonstration of this assertion in the way the Book of Discipline calls for our theological method or the rubrics of the Wesleyan Quadrilateral. Harm done. Instead, we affirm human love and sexuality as part of God’s good creation and reject the blanket exile of one expression of love and sexuality. We reject the narrow expression now enshrined in the Social Principles’ as ignoring the full embrace of scripture, refusing theological developments that inform contemporary Christian teaching, rejecting the incorporation of agreed upon scientific research and its reasoned conclusions regarding human sexuality and denying breadth of experience we share together of the expressions of love in a Christian understanding, especially the experience of LGBTQIA+ siblings.

We refuse to accept a hierarchy of sin that results in categorical discrimination. Harm done. Instead, we affirm that all people are in need of God’s prevenient, justifying and sanctifying grace.

We refuse to accept the restrictive language of the Book of Discipline that interferes with the work of the Holy Spirit calling people into covenants of love through marriage. Harm done. Instead, we affirm the authority granted at ordination to join any two people in union with one another and Christ through the holy covenant of marriage.

We refuse to accept any restrictive language in the Book of Discipline that interferes with the work of the Holy Spirit calling people into set-apart ministry as clergy. Harm done. Instead, we call upon the Wisconsin Annual Conference District Committees on Ministry and Board of Ordained Ministry to continue to affirm those called by God into ordained and licensed ministry and to assess candidates based on high standards of fitness, readiness and effectiveness.

We refuse to accept the restrictive language in the Book of Discipline that interferes with your charge to publicly affirm people called to ministry. Harm done. Instead, we affirm your authority to consecrate, commission and ordain all qualified and elected candidates for ministry.

We refuse to accept any actions of The United Methodist Church or the Wisconsin Annual Conference that impede the ability of God’s beloved children to express their giftedness as part of the body of Christ. Harm done. Instead, we will lead with conviction and ongoing sacred resistance to avert evil, injustice and oppression in any form. We ask you to join us and claim your charge to be a prophetic voice for justice.

We implore you to lead us into being a radically inclusive church, fully affirming LGBTQIA+ people, which we understand as the promise of the incarnation. We need leaders who are willing to risk their own comfort on behalf of those who are suffering. We will accept nothing less than bold, prophetic leadership that celebrates the gifts and loves of all God’s people.“Justice will never come until the most marginalized LEAD the conversation.” It is time to be prophetic listeners to those most impacted by the harm done, our LGBTQIA+ siblings. We encourage your personal discernment about your readiness to lead this movement and prayerfully request you seek a different appointment should you not be ready.

Each of us has measured the institutional challenges and risks as well as our own capacity and calling to engage what we believe has been set before us. As our leaders, in this critical hour we prayerfully call upon you to model and exemplify your own discernment and commitment to bold action that will be necessary to fulfill the full purpose and inclusive nature of the church and resist the forces arrayed against it. The challenge we offer is rooted in our own prayerful discernment and commitment to the vision and purpose of the church in a Wesleyan spirit.

We delight in the power of the Holy Spirit to chart a way forward that is fully affirming of all people. We enjoy the gift of Christ’s redemption and daily renewal of life. We relish in the love of God that holds us tightly as we move forward in doing good. We commit to following the Spirit’s lead. Will you join us?